1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and particularly to a stacked audio jack connector.
2. Description of Prior Arts
With the ever-increasing miniaturization of computer and other electronic equipment, it becomes increasingly difficult to design electrical circuitry for connector thereof. One area of such difficulty is electrical switches or switch assemblies. An electrical switch assembly may be used as a normally open switch with switch contacts designed to be closed upon actuating the switch, or the switch assembly may be a normally closed switch with the contacts designed to be opened when the switch is actuated.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,404 discloses an audio jack connector comprising an insulative housing and an insulative separator inserted into the housing. The separator has a U-shaped base portion for receiving a mating plug and a pair of movable pieces extending forwardly from the base portion. Between the movable pieces and the side walls of the housing, leaf contact pieces and metal plate contact pieces are inserted thereinto. The plate contact pieces are adjacent to the leaf contact pieces. Each leaf contact piece is longer than the adjoining plate contact piece and projects out towards the plate contact, and the free end portion of each leaf contact piece makes contact with the free end portion of the corresponding movable piece. When no plug is inserted, each leaf contact piece resiliently contacts the corresponding plate contact piece. When a plug is inserted into this audio jack connector, the pair of movable contact pieces are displaced by the plug outwardly in opposite directions, with the result that the leaf contact pieces are displaced, disengaging their contact portions from the plate contact pieces. The separator, the leaf contact pieces and the plate contact pieces are designed as an electrical switch assembly of this audio jack connector. Furthermore, because of the resilient contact between the leaf contact pieces and the corresponding plate contact pieces, the electrical switch assembly of this audio jack connector is used as a normally closed switch.
However, this kind of audio jack connector cannot satisfy the requirement of ever-increasing miniaturization, because the separator thereof is complex and very large in a horizontal direction.
Hence, it is desirable to have an improved electrical connector to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art.